A method and apparatus for managing a subscription to a product in a retail environment, wherein the product for which a subscription is offered is selected based on the customer's historical purchases. The subscription defines a price for the selected product, wherein the subscription price is lower than the retail price of the product. The subscription specifies conditions which the customer has to meet in order to remain entitled to receive the subscription price for purchases of the product. Such conditions typically include a required frequency of purchases for a required period of time. The conditions of the subscription are selected so as to maximize the customer's visits to the business offering the subscription without unnecessarily eroding the profits of the business.
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29. A method for determining a subscription to a product wherein a customer purchases each unit of a product defined by the subscription at a retailer, comprising the steps of:
receiving a customer identifier that identifies a customer; determining a current purchase of a first product by a customer; determining a subscription to a second product based on the current purchase by: setting a minimum number of the second product to be bought within a duration of the subscription; setting a minimum number of transactions within which the minimum number of the second product is to be bought; and setting a maximum time within which the minimum number of transactions are to occur; and outputting an offer for a subscription to a second product.
61. A computer readable medium encoded with instructions for directing a processor to:
receive a customer identifier that identifies a customer; determine a current purchase of a first product by a customer; determine a subscription to a second product based on the current purchase by: setting a minimum number of the second product to be bought within a duration of the subscription; setting a minimum number of transactions within which the minimum number of the second product is to be bought; and setting a maximum time within which the minimum number of transactions are to occur; and output an offer for a subscription to a second product, wherein the customer purchases each unit of a product defined by the first and second subscription at a retailer.
57. An apparatus for providing a subscription to a product wherein a customer purchases each unit of a product defined by the subscription at a retailer, comprising:
a processor, and a storage device that stores a program for directing the processor; the processor being operative with the program to: receive a customer identifier that identifies a customer; determine a current purchase of a first product by a customer; determine a subscription to a second product based on the current purchase by: setting a minimum number of the second product to be bought within a duration of the subscription; setting a minimum number of transactions within which the minimum number of the second product is to be bought; and setting a maximum time within which the minimum number of transactions are to occur; and output an offer for a subscription to a second product, the offer being based on the current purchase. 60. A computer readable medium encoded with instructions for directing a processor to:
receive a customer identifier that identifies a customer; evaluate data regarding at least one previous purchase of the customer; determine, based on the data regarding the at least one previous purchase, a frequency with which the customer purchased a first product; select a second product based on the determined frequency; define a subscription to the second product by: setting a minimum number of the second product to be bought within a duration of the subscription; setting a minimum number of transactions within which the minimum number of the second product is to be bought; and setting a maximum time within which the minimum number of transactions are to occur; and output an offer for a subscription to the second product, wherein the customer purchases each unit of a product defined by the subscription at a retailer.
1. A method for establishing a subscription to a product wherein a customer purchases each unit of a product defined by the subscription at a retailer, comprising the steps of:
receiving a customer identifier that identifies a customer; evaluating data regarding at least one previous purchase of the customer; determining, based on the data regarding the at least one previous purchase, a frequency with which the customer purchased a first product; selecting a second product based on the determined frequency; defining a subscription to the second product by: setting a minimum number of the second product to be bought within a duration of the subscription; setting a minimum number of transactions within which the minimum number of the second product is to be bought; and setting a maximum time within which the minimum number of transactions are to occur; and outputting an offer for a subscription to the second product.
48. A method for controlling a subscription to a product wherein a customer purchases each unit of a product defined by the subscription at a retailer, comprising the steps of:
receiving a customer identifier that identifies a customer; determining a successful completion, by the customer, of a first subscription to a first product, wherein the first subscription defines a first minimum number of the first product to be bought and a first minimum number of transactions within which the first minimum number of the first product is to be bought; outputting an offer for a second subscription to a second product, wherein the second subscription defines a second minimum number of the second product to be bought and a second minimum number of transactions within which the second minimum number of the second product is to be bought and wherein a condition of the second subscription is based on a condition of the first subscription; and receiving a response to the offer, the response indicating one of an acceptance and a rejection.
63. A computer readable medium encoded with instructions for directing a processor to:
receive a customer identifier that identifies a customer; determine a successful completion, by the customer, of a first subscription to a first product, wherein the first subscription defines a first minimum number of the first product to be bought and a first minimum number of transactions within which the first minimum number of the first product is to be bought; output an offer for a second subscription to a second product, wherein the second subscription defines a second minimum number of the second product to be bought and a second minimum number of transactions within which the second minimum number of the second product is to be bought and wherein a condition of the second subscription is based on a condition of the first subscription; receive a response to the offer, the response indicating one of an acceptance and a rejection; and wherein a customer purchases each unit of a product defined by the first and second subscription at a retailer.
56. An apparatus for providing a subscription to a product wherein a customer purchases each unit of a product defined by the subscription at a retailer, comprising:
a processor, and a storage device that stores a program for directing the processor; the processor being operative with the program to: receive a customer identifier that identifies a customer; evaluate data regarding at least one previous purchase of the customer; determine, based on the data regarding the at least one previous purchase, a frequency with which the customer purchased a first product; select a second product based on the determined frequency; define a subscription to the second product by: setting a minimum number of the second product to be bought within a duration of the subscription; setting a minimum number of transactions within which the minimum number of the second product is to be bought; and setting a maximum time within which the minimum number of transactions are to occur; and output an offer for a subscription to the second product. 59. An apparatus for providing a subscription to a product wherein a customer purchases each unit of a product defined by the subscription at a retailer, comprising:
a processor, and a storage device that stores a program for directing the processor; the processor being operative with the program to: receive a customer identifier that identifies a customer; determine a successful completion, by the customer, of a first subscription to a first product, wherein the first subscription defines a first minimum number of the first product to be bought and a first minimum number of transactions within which the first minimum number of the first product is to be bought; output an offer for a second subscription to a second product, wherein the second subscription defines a second minimum number of the second product to be bought and a second minimum number of transactions within which the second minimum number of the second product is to be bought and wherein a condition of the second subscription is based on a condition of the first subscription; and receive a response to the offer, the response indicating one of an acceptance and a rejection. 62. A computer readable medium encoded with instructions for directing a processor to:
receive a customer identifier that identifies a customer; receive a product identifier of a product being purchased by the customer; determine whether the customer has a subscription to the product, wherein the customer purchases each unit of a product defined by the subscription at a retailer; determine a required frequency for purchasing the product defined by the subscription, wherein the required frequency comprises a maximum time period between purchases of the product by the customer; determine a time of a previous purchase of the product by the customer; determining a current time; calculate whether a time period between the time of the previous purchase and the current time is not greater than the maximum time period between purchases; determine an end time for the subscription; calculate whether the current time is past the end time; and adjust a purchase total based on whether the customer has a subscription to the product, if the time period between the time of the previous purchase and the current time is not greater than the maximum time period between purchases and the current time is not past the end time.
43. A method for applying a subscription to a product wherein a customer purchases each unit of a product defined by the subscription at a retailer, comprising the steps of:
receiving a customer identifier that identifies a customer; receiving a product identifier of a product being purchased by the customer; determining whether the customer has a subscription to the product; determining a required frequency for purchasing the product defined by the subscription, wherein the required frequency comprises a maximum time period between purchases of the product by the customer; determining a time of a previous purchase of the product by the customer; determining a current time; calculating whether a time period between the time of the previous purchase and the current time is not greater than the maximum time period between purchases; determining an end time for the subscription; calculating whether the current time is past the end time; and adjusting a purchase total based on whether the customer has a subscription to the product, if the time period between the time of the previous purchase and the current time is not greater than the maximum time period between purchases and the current time is not past the end time.
58. An apparatus for providing a subscription to a product wherein a customer purchases each unit of a product defined by the subscription at a retailer, comprising:
a processor, and a storage device that stores a program for directing the processor; the processor being operative with the program to: receive a customer identifier that identifies a customer; receive a product identifier of a product being purchased by the customer; determine whether the customer has a subscription to the product; determine a required frequency for purchasing the product defined by the subscription, wherein the required frequency comprises a maximum time period between purchases of the product by the customer; determine a time of a previous purchase of the product by the customer; determining a current time; calculate whether a time period between the time of the previous purchase and the current time is not greater than the maximum time period between purchases; determine an end time for the subscription; calculate whether the current time is past the end time; and adjust a purchase total based on whether the customer has a subscription to the product, if the time period between the time of the previous purchase and the current time is not greater than the maximum time period between purchases and the current time is not past the end time. 2. The method of
3. The method of
4. The method of
5. The method of
outputting an offer for subscription if the frequency exceeds a predetermined threshold.
6. The method of
outputting a first offer if the frequency exceeds a first predetermined threshold; and outputting a second offer if the frequency exceeds a second predetermined threshold that is greater than the first predetermined threshold.
8. The method of
determining a time interval between a first purchase of the first product and a second purchase of the first product, thereby determining a frequency with which the customer purchased the first product.
9. The method of
retrieving the data regarding the at least one previous purchase from a database of previous purchases, the data being retrieved based on the customer identifier.
10. The method of
retrieving, based on the customer identifier, a subscription to which the customer is currently subscribed; and wherein the step of outputting comprises: outputting an offer for a subscription to a second product based on the determined frequency and the retrieved subscription. 11. The method of
looking up in a database a first entry, the first entry corresponding to a product defined by the existing subscription; and looking up in a database a second entry, the second entry corresponding to a second product that is associated with the first product in the database.
12. The method of
receiving a response to the offer, the response indicating one of an acceptance and a rejection.
14. The method of
initiating a subscription to the product if the response indicates an acceptance.
16. The method of
charging the subscription deposit to the customer if the response indicates an acceptance.
17. The method of
returning the subscription deposit to the customer if the subscription is completed successfully.
18. The method of
applying the penalty to the customer if the subscription is not completed successfully.
19. The method of
20. The method of
21. The method of
22. The method of
23. The method of
24. The method of
26. The method of
27. The method of
retrieving data regarding at least one previous purchase of the customer from a database.
28. The method of
determining a frequency with which the customer purchased a first product based on the data regarding the at least one previous purchase and a current purchase.
30. The method of
looking up in a database a first entry, the first entry corresponding to the first product; and looking up in a database a second entry, the second entry corresponding to a second product that is associated with the first product in the database.
32. The method of
33. The method of
35. The method of
determining, based on the customer identifier, an existing subscription to which the customer is currently subscribed; and wherein the step of outputting comprises: outputting an offer for a subscription to a second product based on the data regarding the current purchase of the first product and the existing subscription. 36. The method of
receiving a response to the offer, the response indicating one of an acceptance and a rejection.
38. The method of
initiating a subscription to the product if the response indicates an acceptance.
40. The method of
charging the subscription fee to the customer if the response indicates an acceptance.
41. The method of
42. The method of
44. The method of
adding a first price to the purchase total if the customer has a subscription to the product; and adding a second price to the purchase total if the customer does not have a subscription to the product.
46. The method of
adding a first product price to a purchase total of the customer if the current time is before a predetermined time; and adding a second product price to a purchase total of the customer if the current time is not before a predetermined time.
49. The method of
wherein the offer for the second subscription includes a second deposit required to initiate the second subscription.
51. The method of
52. The method of
outputting a monetary amount to the customer if the response indicates a rejection, wherein the monetary amount is greater than the first deposit.
53. The method of
outputting a monetary amount to the customer if the response indicates a rejection, wherein the monetary amount is equal to the first deposit.
55. The method of
the first price is greater than the second price.
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The present application is a continuation-in-part application of commonly-owned, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/889,589 entitled "SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR ESTABLISHING AND MANAGING SUBSCRIPTION PURCHASE AGREEMENTS INCLUDING COMMITMENTS TO PURCHASE GOODS OVER TIME AT AGREED UPON PRICES" filed on Jul. 8, 1997, and issued on Oct. 19, 1999 as U.S. Patent No. 5,970,470, the entirety of which is incorporated herein by reference.
The present application is related to commonly-owned, co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/049,297 entitled "SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR TRACKING AND ESTABLISHING A PROGRESSIVE DISCOUNT BASED UPON A CUSTOMER'S VISITS TO A RETAIL ESTABLISHMENT" filed on Mar. 27, 1998, the entirety of which is incorporated herein by reference.
The present invention relates to point-of-sale systems, and more specifically to methods and systems for determining and applying discounts by using point-of-sale systems.
In most areas of business, several entities compete for the same set of potential customers. Consequently, each business must aggressively pursue marketing strategies to attract customers and induce customer loyalty to their particular establishment. For example, the grocery store industry is highly competitive. There are approximately seventy-five large supermarket chains in the United States. In an attempt to attract customers, members of the grocery store industry have employed a number of different promotions such as frequent shopper programs and weekly coupon specials. Despite these efforts, however, customer loyalty is no longer inherent due to the intense competition.
Another attempt to attract customers is the implementation of a frequent shopper program. Such a program typically provides a customer with a frequent shopper card that is to be presented at the time of a transaction. Presentation of the card identifies the customer and enables the customer to receive preferential treatment, such as discounts on specific items purchased. Essentially, these frequent shopper programs act much like a paperless coupon redemption system. The frequent shopper programs are also used by the business to track a customer's shopping habits. The frequent shopper card includes a customer identifier that enables the retailer to identify, record and track a customer's purchases. The customer's shopping history may then be used to perform targeted marketing functions, such as compiling mailing lists of recipients of advertising material or printing point-of-sale (POS) coupons for the customer.
While the frequent shopper program may succeed in attracting the customer to the store on an occasional basis, the program does not successfully ensure the loyalty of the customers. Since many stores have a frequent shopper program, customers may simply acquire a frequent shopper card for every chain of stores in their area and make purchases at the chain that offers the best specials or is the most convenient at any particular time. Accordingly, a frequent shopper program does not provide any incentive (i.e. reward or penalty) for visiting the store on a consistent basis.
A further drawback of the prior art frequent shopper systems is their failure to identify and reward their most frequent and loyal customers any more than less frequent customers are rewarded. For example, grocery stores make approximately eighty percent of their revenue from about thirty percent of their customers. It would therefore be beneficial for the grocery stores to reward and retain as many of the "best thirty percent" customers as possible.
Some businesses employ reward programs in order to attract and develop customer loyalty. An example of a typical reward program is one implemented by Arby's, a chain of quick service restaurants. The Arby's reward program enables customers to earn prizes that increase in value through a series of sixteen visits, after which the prizes revert to their minimum value and the cycle repeats. Since the customer's account is "reset" once the maximum prize value is achieved, the customer has no incentive at that point to continue choosing Arby's over another fast-food chain. In addition, the Arby's reward program does not promote frequent visits, since there is no time requirement within which the sixteen visits must be made. Thus, the benefits, if any, may be spread over a substantial length of time.
With the considerable number of businesses in any given area, there exists a need for systems and processes which provide a given business with the ability to reward a particularly loyal customer for consistent patronage to their establishment and to promote and reinforce the customer's loyalty.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus that facilitates the management of subscriptions to products in a retail environment.
In accordance with the present invention, a controller receives a customer identifier and data regarding purchase of the customer. The data may correspond to a current purchase of the customer and/or previous purchases of the customer. The controller, based on the customer identifier and subscription offering criteria, determines a subscription to a product. Examples of subscription offering criteria include a frequency with which the customer purchased a certain product and any existing subscriptions the customer is currently subscribed to. The controller then outputs to the customer an offer for the subscription. The offer defines subscription conditions, which may include (i) a product, (ii) a duration of the subscription, (iii) a product price, (iv) a required frequency of purchases, and (v) a subscription deposit. If the customer accepts the offer, the acceptance is stored in memory. A subscription deposit may be charged to the customer upon indication of the acceptance.
FIG. 15A and
FIG. 17A and
In accordance with the present invention, there are provided new and improved systems and methods that enable a business to provide a customer with a subscription to a product in order to encourage the customer to participates in transactions on a regular, frequent basis (e.g. once per week). The subscription provides the customer with a discounted price on the product defined by the subscription. The subscription also defines conditions that the customer has to meet in order to remain entitled to the discounted price. The conditions may include a subscription frequency and a subscription duration. The subscription frequency defines the length of time between required product purchases of the subscription. The subscription duration is the time during which the conditions defined by the subscription are imposed on the customer and during which the customer is provided with the subscription price for the product of the subscription. In some embodiments of the present invention, the customer may be penalized for failing to fulfill the conditions of the subscriptions. The penalty may be a charge of a monetary amount.
The following terms are used throughout the remainder of this section. For purposes of construction, such terms shall have the following meanings:
The term "product", unless otherwise specified, refers to anything (e.g. a good or service) sold or offered for sale by a business.
The term "business", unless otherwise specified, refers to any entity that allows customers to purchase products. A business may be, for example, a retail store such as a warehouse, a supermarket, or grocery store, a department store, or any other merchandising establishment.
The term "customer", unless otherwise specified, refers to any person, group of people, or other entity that visits or otherwise patronizes a business and/or purchases products from the business.
The term "transaction", unless otherwise specified, refers to an exchange of a product offered by a business for a payment or other consideration provided by the customer.
Referring now to
The POS controller 100 directs the operation of, stores data from and transmits data to the POS terminals 110, 120 and 130. The POS controller may itself be a POS terminal, as described herein, or may be another computing device that can communicate with one or more POS terminals. Each of the POS terminals 110, 120 and 130 may be located in the same store, in different stores of a chain of stores, or in other locations. The POS controller 100 may perform many of the processes described below, especially those processes that are performed for more than one POS terminal. The POS controller 100 may furthermore store data, such as an inventory database, that is to be shared by the POS terminals 110, 120 and 130. Similarly, data described herein as stored on the POS controller may be stored on any or all of the POS terminals 110, 120 and 130, as appropriate.
The customer terminal 240 allows the customer to receive or request offers for subscriptions at times other than during a transaction. Further details on the functionality of customer terminal 240 will be discussed below. The customer terminal 240 is in communication with POS controller 205. POS controller 205 is operable to perform substantially the same functions as POS controller 100 (FIG. 1). POS controller 205 is in communication with POS terminal 210, POS terminal 220, and POS terminal 230, in an arrangement substantially the same as the one described in FIG. 1. The POS controller 205 may be a "web server" of the business. The POS controller 205 can generate a web page that may be accessed via the World Wide Web and allow offers to be submitted to the customer. The customer terminal 240 may appropriately access the web page to communicate with the POS controller 205 in a manner known to those skilled in the art. The customer terminal 240 may further include a printer (not shown) for printing coupons or vouchers that the customer may utilize in order to receive a subscription price for the product defined by the subscription. Such coupons will be described in more detail below. Alternately, the customer may have the coupons or vouchers e-mailed to him on a periodic basis once he is registered for a subscription.
The clock 330 generates the time of a transaction. The time may consist of the date and/or time of day, and may be stored in association with other transaction information, such as the price of the transaction. The printer 340 is controlled by the processor 310 and outputs information such as the receipt for the current transaction and an indication of the subscription price applied to the transaction. The input device 350 communicates information to the processor 310 and may consist of, for example, a scanning device (e.g. an optical bar code scanner), a keyboard, or a magnetic stripe reader. The communicated information may be, for example, products included in a current transaction and a customer identifier. The display device 360 receives information from, and is controlled by, the processor 310, and may display the information to the cashier operating the POS terminal, to the customer, or a combination thereof. The displayed information may include, for example, (i) the transaction price, (ii) an offer for a subscription, and/or (iii) the discounted subscription price of a subscription the customer is currently subscribed to that is being applied to the transaction. The display device may comprise, for example, a video monitor that is at least capable of displaying alphanumeric characters. Many types of input devices, printers, and display devices are known to those skilled in the art, and need not be described in detail herein.
The processor 310 and the data storage device 320 may each be (i) located entirely within a single computer or computing device; (ii) connected thereto by a remote communication link, such as a serial port cable, telephone line or radio frequency transceiver; or (iii) a combination thereof. For example, the POS terminal 300 may comprise one or more cash registers connected to a remote server computer for maintaining databases. Many types of conventional cash registers and other types of POS terminals may be used to implement the present invention in light of the present disclosure.
An input device 504 preferably comprises a keypad for transmitting input signals to the processor 500. A printer 506 is for registering indicia on paper or other material, thereby printing reports and other documents as controlled by the processor 500. A display device 508 is preferably a video monitor for displaying at least alphanumeric characters. Many types of input devices, printers and display devices are known to those skilled in the art, and need not be described in detail herein. The input device 504, printer 506 and display device 508 are each in communication with the processor 500.
The storage device 502 stores a program 520 for controlling the processor 500. The processor 500 performs instructions of the program 520, and thereby operates in accordance with the present invention, and particularly in accordance with the methods described in detail herein. The program 520 furthermore includes program elements that may be necessary, such as an operating system and "device drivers" for allowing the processor 500 to interface with computer peripheral devices, such as the input device 504, the printer 506 and the display device 508. Appropriate operating systems, device drivers and other necessary program elements are known to those skilled in the art, and need not be described in detail herein.
The storage device 502 also stores (i) an inventory database 522, (ii) a product category database 524, (iii) a subscription frequency database 526, (iv) a subscription duration database 528, (v) a complementary subscription products database 530, (vi) a complementary subscription conditions database 532, (vii) an available subscriptions database 534, (viii) a transaction database 536, and (ix) a customer database 538. The databases 522, 524, 526, 528, 530, 532, 534, 536, and 538 are described in detail below and depicted with exemplary entries in the accompanying figures. As will be understood by those skilled in the art, the schematic illustrations and accompanying descriptions of the databases presented herein are exemplary arrangements for stored representations of information. A number of other arrangements may be employed besides the tables shown. Similarly, the illustrated entries represent exemplary information, and those skilled in the art will understand that the number and content of the entries can be different from those illustrated herein.
Referring to
Referring to
Information stored in the product category database 524 is available to the POS terminals 110, 120 and 130 (
Referring to
Information stored in the subscription frequency database 526 may be available to the POS terminals 110, 120 and 130 (
Referring to
Information stored in the subscription duration database 528 may be available to the POS terminals 110, 120 and 130 (
Referring to
Information stored in the complementary products database 530 may be available to the POS terminals 110, 120 and 130 (
Referring to
Information stored in the complementary subscription conditions database 532 may be available to the POS terminals 110, 120 and 130 (
Referring to
Information stored in the available subscriptions database 534 may be available to the POS terminals 110, 120 and 130 (
Referring to
Referring to
The table 1400 also includes entries 1402, 1404, and 1406 each of which describes a subscription to which the customer has subscribed. It will be understood by those skilled in the art that the table 1400 may include any number of entries. The table 1400 also defines fields for each of the entries 1402, 1404 and 1406, which specify (i) a subscription identifier 1426 that uniquely identifies the subscription, (ii) a subscription start time 1428 that identifies the time that the subscription was initiated, (iii) a subscription end time 1430 that identifies the time that the subscription runs out (i.e. the end of the duration of the subscription), (iv) a time of last update 1432 that indicates the time at which the fulfillment of the subscription conditions was last determined, and (v) a status 1434 of the subscription. A status 1434 may indicate one of "active", "fulfilled, or "failed." Once a subscription is initiated, the status of the subscription remains "active" until the product subscription system 10 (
Table 1450 illustrates a plurality of transactions participated in by a customer. Table 1450 contains a plurality of entries 1452, 1454, and 1456, each of which describes a transaction participated in by the customer. The table 1450 also defines fields for each of the entries 1452, 1454, and 1456, which specify (i) a transaction identifier 1472 that uniquely identifies the transaction, (ii) a product identifier 1474 that identifies the products included in the transaction, and (iii) a transaction time 1476 that identifies the time the transaction occurred. The customer identifier 1470 of table 1450 corresponds to the customer identifier 1420 of table 1400. That is, the transactions described in table 1450 pertain to the customer whose subscriptions are described in table 1400.
Referring to
The step 1515 may comprise matching the product identifiers included in the customer's current transaction to the product identifier of the existing subscription. If it is determined that the customer's current transaction does contain the product of an existing subscription, the subscription price of the product is applied to a purchase total of the customer for the current transaction (step 1520). If process 1500 is performed at the end of a transaction, the step 1520 of applying the subscription price for the product may comprise decreasing the purchase total by the difference between the retail price and the subscription price of the product of the existing subscription. The subscription price may be determined by retrieving it from the inventory database 522 (
It should be noted that a subscription may entitle a customer to a predefined number of purchases of the product at the subscription price during the duration of the subscription. For example, if the subscription defines a frequency of seven days, the customer may only be entitled to the subscription price for the product once during every seven days. The step 1520 of applying the subscription price may be preceded by a determination of whether the customer has already utilized the subscription price for the product during a time period specified by the subscription frequency (e.g., seven days) and only applying the subscription price if it has not been utilized within the time period. In an alternate embodiment, there may be no limit on the number of times a customer may utilize his entitlement to the subscription price during the duration of the subscription. In such an embodiment, the subscription frequency condition in effect defines a minimum number of purchases per predefined time period.
Referring again to step 1515, if it was determined that the customer's current transaction does not include the product of the existing subscription, the process continues to step 1525. Step 1525 comprises determining a product subscription to offer to the customer. In one embodiment of the present invention, the business defines a maximum number of "active" subscriptions the customer may have at any one time. In such an embodiment, the step 1525 of determining a subscription to offer would only be performed if the customer's number of existing subscriptions did not exceed the maximum number.
The step 1525 may comprise identifying historical purchasing habits of a customer (e.g. by evaluating transactions of the customer in the transaction database) and providing the customer with a subscription that approximates the customer's actual purchasing habits. For example, it may be determined at step 1525 that a customer purchases one case of baby formula every seven to ten days. The determined offer may thus be a subscription to baby formula, wherein the subscription requires the customer to purchase a case of baby formula every seven days. Such a subscription offer would be based on a measured frequency of the customer's purchases of a product. A measured frequency is a determination of the average time, or a range of the number of times, between the purchases of a product by the customer. The determination of the frequency condition to include in the subscription offer may include the utilization of a subscription frequency database 526, such as that illustrated in table 800 (FIG. 8). For example, the measured frequency 822 may be looked up in the table 800 and a corresponding subscription frequency 824 is selected. This selected subscription frequency may then be utilized to select a subscription from the available subscriptions database 534.
Alternatively, the determined offer may be for a subscription to a product other than the previously purchased product (e.g., the baby formula). The other product may be, for example, diapers. This determination to offer the customer diapers may also be based on the customer's historical purchasing habits. However, rather than offering a subscription to a product that the customer has previously purchased, the offered subscription is to a product that is determined to be a likely purchase of that customer. The subscription offer may in this case be based on an anticipated frequency with which the customer is likely to purchase the product. For example, the anticipated frequency may be determined by determining the average frequency with which other customers purchase diapers. The anticipated frequency may also be determined by utilizing the measured frequency of the product that the customer has historically purchased, which in the above example was the baby formula.
A customer may also be offered a subscription to a product based on an item he is currently purchasing rather than on his historical purchases. In this embodiment, the customer may be offered a subscription to a product that is included in his current purchases or may be offered a subscription to a product that is complementary to a product included in the customer's current purchase. Complementary products may be, for example, (i) products that are associated with each other in a database of the business; (ii) products that typically are associated with one another in the average person's mind (e.g. bagels and cream cheese); or (iii) products that are related in terms of their utility (e.g. razors and shaving cream). An appropriate complementary product may be selected by utilizing the complementary products database 530 (FIG. 5), for example the embodiment shown as the table 1000 (FIG. 10).
The product subscription system 10 enables the business to offer subscriptions to customers in order to induce the customer to make frequent purchases at the business. As described above, one manner of accomplishing this is to offer the customer a subscription to a product that approximates the customer's purchasing habits. Typically, a customer would not find such an offer burdensome. The present system and methods also enable the business to offer multiple subscriptions to a customer without unnecessarily eroding its profit margin. The business may offer the customer multiple subscriptions that are active simultaneously but whose conditions are such that the business is not unnecessarily offering discounts without gaining a comparable benefit. A subscription is considered active for the duration of the subscription. In some embodiments the status of the subscription may be set to "failed" if the customer fails to satisfy the conditions of the subscription. That is, the subscription may be deactivated before the duration of the subscription is over.
Thus, the present invention allows a business to maximize the benefits it derives from offering subscriptions without unnecessarily eroding its profits. For example, if a customer has a subscription of a short frequency and a short duration, the customer may be offered an additional subscription of a long frequency and a long duration. For example, a subscription that requires the customer to purchase one gallon of milk once per week defines a subscription frequency of seven days. Thus, if a customer currently has a subscription whose conditions define a subscription frequency of seven days and a subscription duration of three months, the customer may be offered an additional subscription to another product whose conditions define a subscription frequency of thirty days and a subscription duration of one year. The result is that the business is assured of the customer's patronage in the short term, on a frequent basis, as well as for the long term, on a less frequent basis.
Returning now to step 1525, once a product subscription is determined, the subscription offer is output to the customer (step 1530). Step 1530 may comprise displaying the offer directly to the customer on a display device and/or prompting the operator of the POS terminal to verbally present the offer to the customer. It should be noted that the more than one subscription offer may be presented to the customer at step 1530. For example, multiple subscription offers may have been determined at step 1525 and, at step 1530, all of the determined offers or a subset of the determined offers may be presented to the customer.
If it is determined that the customer has indicated an acceptance of the offer (step 1535), the subscription is initiated (step 1540). Initiating a subscription may comprise storing (i) the subscription identifier of the offered subscription, (ii) the start time of the subscription, and/or (iii) the end time of the subscription, which may be based on the duration of the subscription (i.e. if the subscription duration is six months and the start time of the subscription is Jan. 1, 1999, the end time of the subscription is Jul. 1, 1999). The start time of the subscription may comprise (i) the time of acceptance of the subscription offer, (ii) the time of the first usage of the subscription price by the customer, or (iii) another time determined by the business. If the customer is currently purchasing a product to which he accepts a subscription, the subscription price may be applied to the current transaction or to the next purchase of the product by the customer. The step 1545 of initiating a subscription may further comprise charging any deposit associated with the subscription to the purchase total of the customer's current transaction.
The process 1500 proceeds to the step of completing the transaction (step 1545) once (i) the subscription is initiated in step 1540, or (ii) it is determined that the customer response does not indicate an acceptance of the subscription offer in step 1535. Completing the transaction may include conventional steps such as adding the appropriate sales tax to the purchase total of the transaction and receiving payment from the customer for the transaction.
In the above described embodiment of product subscription system 200 (FIG. 2), the customer may request or receive offers for a subscription to a product through a remote customer terminal. Accordingly, the determination of a subscription offer need not be made at a point of sale. Such an embodiment would comprise (i) receiving a customer identifier, (ii) determining a product subscription to offer (step 1525 of process 1500), (iii) outputting the subscription offer to the customer (step 1530 of process 1500), and (iv) initiating a subscription for the customer if the customer indicates an acceptance of the offer (step 1540 of process 1500).
Referring to
Process 1600 is initiated by retrieving an existing subscription of a customer based on a customer identifier that uniquely identifies the customer (step 1605). Step 1605 may comprise retrieving the customer's record from the customer database 538 (
A complementary product is selected based on the product of the existing subscription (step 1615). As described above, selecting a complementary product may comprise determining a product that corresponds to the product of the existing subscription in a complementary products database 530 (FIG. 5). Table 1000 is an embodiment of the complementary products database 530 and will be utilized for illustrative purposes of process 1600. Entry 1002 of table 1000 indicates that products "P180", "P400", and "P510" are complementary products of product "P100", which was retrieved in step 1610. The step 1615 of selecting a complementary product when there are multiple complementary products defined may comprise (i) selecting the first complementary product listed, (ii) selecting all of the complementary products and determining multiple subscription offers for the customer, or (iii) another method of selecting that is determined by the business. For purposes of this example, product "P180" will be selected.
The frequency and duration of the existing subscription are determined (step 1620). For example, the entry 1402 of table 1400 (
Once the complementary subscription frequency and subscription duration are selected in step 1625, it is determined whether there is an available subscription that defines the selected product, subscription frequency, and subscription duration (step 1630). Step 1630 may comprise querying an available subscriptions database 534 (FIG. 5). Table 1200 illustrates an embodiment of the available subscriptions database 534 and will be used for illustrative purposes of this example. Entry 1210 indicates that a subscription defining the product "P180", subscription frequency "C" and subscription duration "1Y" is available. If is it is determined that a subscription with the selected subscription conditions is available, an offer for the subscription is output to the customer (step 1635).
If it is determined in step 1630 that a subscription with the selected conditions is not available, it is determined whether there are other possible selections available with which to define another offer (step 1640). That is, it may be determined if (i) the customer has another existing subscription based on which another subscription offer may be determined, (ii) if there are complementary products corresponding to the product of the existing subscription that may be utilized to determine an offer, and/or (iii) if there are complementary subscription frequency and subscription duration combinations which may be utilized to determine an offer. If all possible selections have been exhausted, the process 1600 ends. Alternately, if all possible selections have been exhausted, a message such as "No subscriptions available at this time" may be output to the customer and/or cashier. If, in step 1640, it is determined that there are other possible selections available, process 1600 repeats, utilizing those other selections. Other methods of determining a subscription to offer to a customer based on an existing subscription of a customer will be understood by those skilled in the art. For example, rather than determining a complementary subscription based on the product defined by an existing subscription, a subscription may be determined based on a category of a product defined by an existing subscription.
Referring to FIG. 17A and
Process 1700 is initiated by the retrieval of a customer's record from the customer database 538 (FIG. 5), in step 1705. An existing subscription of the customer is determined in step 1710. An existing subscription may be any subscription in the customer's record with a corresponding status of "active". Entry 1402 of table 1400, for example, illustrates that customer "C12345" has an existing subscription "A3M-P100". The time of the last update is determined in step 1715. Entry 1402 of table 1400 (
If it is determined that an update is necessary, the transaction database 536 (
If, in step 1740, it is determined that the product of the existing subscription was not included in at least one of the retrieved transactions, a penalty is imposed on the customer (step 1750). Such a penalty may include (i) retaining of at least a portion of a deposit the customer paid at the time the subscription was accepted or initiated, (ii) charging a predefined monetary amount to a financial account associated with the customer (e.g. a credit card account), (iii) setting the status of the subscription to "fail", (iv) any combination of the aforementioned penalties, and/or (iv) another penalty as defined by the store. The appropriate penalty to impose on the customer may be determined by looking up the subscription penalty in the available subscriptions database 534 (FIG. 5). Table 1200, an illustration of an embodiment of the available subscriptions database, indicates an appropriate penalty associated with each available subscription. Entry 1402 of table 1200, for example, indicates that a failure to satisfy the conditions of subscription "A3M-P100" has a corresponding penalty of a retention of the $2.00 deposit previously paid by the customer.
Alternatively, a customer's subscription status may be updated at the time of a transaction participated in by a customer. That is, when product subscription system 10 (
In other embodiments, the customer may not be penalized for missing a frequency requirement by having the subscription terminated. The customer may merely be penalized by being charged a monetary amount as a penalty. In yet another embodiment, the customer may be allowed a predetermined number of "strikes" before he is penalized. That is, the customer may not be penalized unless the number of times he fails to meet a subscription requirement exceeds a predetermined number. Other forms of penalizing a customer for not meeting the subscription requirements of a subscription will be understood by those skilled in the art.
Referring to
Process 1800 is initiated when it is determined that a customer has successfully completed a subscription (step 1805). The conditions of a renewal offer for the subscription are determined in step 1810. The renewal offer determined in step 1810 may define (i) the same conditions as the completed subscription; or (ii) different conditions than the completed subscription. The different conditions may consist of, for example, a lower subscription price for the product of the subscription than the subscription price of the completed offer. In one embodiment, the subscription price defined by a subscription decreases by a predefined amount or percentage each time a customer renews the subscription. For example, if the subscription is for a gallon of milk and the subscription price of the originally offered subscription is $1.75 per gallon, the first time the customer renews the subscription the subscription price will be $1.70 per gallon, and the subscription price will be decreased by $0.05 every time the customer successfully completes the subscription and accepts a renewal offer. A business may define a minimum subscription price for each product associated with a subscription (e.g. no less than $1.65 per gallon). Thus, once the customer has achieved that minimum subscription price by renewing his subscription a number of times, the customer cannot receive a price lower than that minimum subscription price even if he does renew the subscription another time. Such decreases in the subscription price of a subscription product may be stored in a database and looked up by the product subscription system 10 (
Once the conditions of the offer are determined in step 1810, the offer for the renewal of the subscription is output to the customer (step 1815). If the customer's response to the renewal offer indicates an acceptance (step 1820), the subscription is initiated for the customer (step 1825). Initiating the renewed subscription may include setting the start time of the subscription in the customer's record of the customer database 538 (
In the embodiment where the customer had previously paid a deposit upon initiating a subscription, that deposit may be automatically applied to the renewed subscription upon the customer's acceptance of the renewal offer. Additionally, a monetary amount may be paid out to the customer upon the customer' acceptance of the offer. The monetary amount may be in the form of (i) a coupon for the monetary amount, usable for purchases at the business; (ii) a cash payment; (iii) a credit to a financial account associated with the customer; (iv) an increase of the deposit previously paid for by the customer; or (v) any combination thereof. Such a monetary amount may be paid out to the customer upon each renewal of the subscription.
If, in step 1820, the customer's response did not indicate an acceptance of the renewal offer, the customer's successfully completed subscription is terminated (step 1830). Terminating a successfully completed subscription may include setting the status of the subscription in the customer's record of the customer database 538 (
In an alternate embodiment of the invention, the customer is issued a coupon upon the initiation of a subscription. The coupon entitles the customer to the product of the subscription at the subscription price. The coupon may define times at which it is valid, as is known in the art. Once the customer redeems the coupon, he is issued another coupon for the subscription product at the subscription price. The coupon issued to the customer upon redemption may be based on the subscription conditions. For example, if the subscription duration is one year and the subscription frequency is thirty days, the customer will be issued a total of twelve coupons, wherein each coupon is valid for thirty days. Alternatively, rather than having a new coupon issued at the time of redemption of a previously issued coupon, the customer may receive all of the coupons he is entitled to for the duration of the subscription at the time of initiating or accepting the subscription. Thus, if the customer accepts an offer for a subscription with a defined duration of one year and a defined frequency of thirty days, he will receive twelve coupons. Each coupon may have different times of validity associated with it (e.g. one coupon is only valid during the month of January and another coupon is only valid during the month of February).
In yet another alternate embodiment of the present invention, the customer pre-pays for the full value of the subscription at the time of accepting or initiating the subscription. For example, if the customer accepts a subscription for a gallon of milk, with a subscription price of $1.00 per gallon, with a subscription duration of one month and a subscription frequency of seven days, the customer may pay $4.00 at the time of accepting or initiating the subscription. The customer thus does not have to pay for the product at the time of redemption (e.g. at the point of sale when purchasing the one gallon of milk once a week that he is entitled to). Rather, the product subscription system 10 (
Although the present invention has been described with respect to a preferred embodiment thereof, those skilled in the art will note that various substitutions may be made to those embodiments described herein without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. For example, all of the subscription information may be stored on a magnetically encoded card or smart card, in addition to or instead of being stored at the POS controller.
Walker, Jay S., Mik, Magdalena, O'Shea, Deirdre, Van Luchene, Andrew S.
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